Healthy Chocolate Mousse in Under 5 Minutes

I've decided to do a "Lazy Dessert" series after not baking in a very long time. My goal is to create semi-healthy and yummy desserts from common ingredients. I say semi-healthy because I like incorporating healthy ingredients but I also like using fats and sugar. I hate artificial sweeteners and low-fat desserts usually don't taste good.

I'll be doing mostly single serve desserts because I'm the only one in my household that eats dessert every night!

This is a chocolate pudding/mousse and it took me less than 5 minutes to make

There are four ingredients:

1. banana
2. unsweetened cocoa powder
3. whole milk
4. honey

For this single-serve portion I mashed a small very ripe banana. Then added 1 T cocoa powder, 2 t. honey, and mixed in milk until I got a good consistency. 

Now I like a strong chocolate flavor so these measurements may not be your ideal but play around and you'll find the perfect mousse.

Enjoy!

Cake Pops

For my son's 2nd birthday, I finally broke down and attempted cake pops. They didn't go as planned but I'm still posting this because I improvised and they still tasted good.

Crumble the baked cake into a big bowl and stir in some frosting. Don't use too much or the cake becomes to thick. I used about three spoon-fulls or a little less than half the icing can.

Roll the cake/frosting into cake balls and set on some wax paper.

Now I didn't do the regular chocolate coating, mainly because the melted chocolate thickened and I did't have oil and so on...

So I improvised with powdered sugar and melted butter for the adhesive and the dipped some and sprinkled and others in the chunks of white chocolate.

I made the white chocolate chunks by melting a bag of white chocolate chips and adding a splash of cold milk. It became chunky as I stirred it.

Birthday Cake Pops (without the sticks)

1 box Devil's Food Cake mix

Chocolate frosting (I used store bought)

powdered sugar

melted butter

sprinkles

white chocolate (melted)

splash of milk

Chocolate Chip Almond Bread

It's been a few months, but I finally did it. I actually made a new recipe, took pictures, and posted it. I tweaked a recipe I found online because I literally couldn't find a recipe for what I wanted, which never happens.

I wanted almond bread with chocolate chips in it, not chocolate almond bread. So I found a recipe for chocolate chip bread, added almond extract.

I also added an almond glaze and topped it with honey roasted slivered almonds. I did not make these almonds myself but purchased them at Trader Joe's. They were so delicious!

It saves up to three days or you can freeze it and eat it later. 

I sliced up this particular loaf and wrapped the individual slices to include in Christmas presents. The chocolate chips really went well with the almonds!

Chocolate Chip Almond Bread Recipe

4 cups flour

1 cup sugar

1 tsp. baking powder

1 T baking soda

1 tsp. salt

3 eggs

1 3/4 cup 2% milk

1 tsp. almond extract

2/3 cup canola oil

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

1 cup powdered sugar

about 1 T of milk

1/2 tsp. almond extract

1 cup honey roasted slivered almonds

Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Whisk together the eggs, milk, oil, and almond extract. Combine the egg mixture with the flour mixture until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips. 

Pour into two 9x5 greased bread pans. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 50 to 55 minutes.

Mix milk, powdered sugar, and almond extract to make the glaze. Let the bread cool and pour glaze over bread. Sprinkle with slivered almonds and enjoy!